August 29, 2007

More Proof that Going Big is the Only Way to Go

When Veron of Veronica’s Test Kitchen and Patricia of Technicolor Kitchen announced that the recipe for this month’s Daring Baker challenge was a Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart, my thoughts went something like this: Yay, there’s chocolate!Boo, it’s milk chocolate, no dark.Yay, there’s caramel, I love the taste of caramel!Boo, I hate making caramel, it always tries to attack me and my kitchen.Yay, I have a family reunion coming up that I can bake this tart for!Boo, I have to work that day so I’m going to have to send the tart with my parents for everyone to devour but me.Yay, it’s sunny outside!Boo, there’s something sticky on the bottom of my foot, ew, what is that?Yay, I like the colour blue.Boo, I distract easily and have no clue where I was going with this.

Anyways, I made this tart without too much sweat and without dropping any curse words either, which generally isn’t the case with a Daring Baker Challenge.I had no trouble rolling out the crust, but I heard the crust drove some of the other Bakers to the brink of insanity, or as close to the brink as a failed crust can drive someone.The caramel process went smoothly, quite the opposite of most of my caramel making ventures, I didn’t even scald myself with the hot sugar like normal.The chocolate mousse was apparently without incident because all I can remember about making it was licking the bowl.And yet, despite the relative ease with which it was made, I wasn’t overly impressed with the end result.I made two tarts, one regular sized that was shipped off to my family reunion and one baby tart that I kept for myself.I only tasted the baby and I don’t think this tart worked well in the mini version.There was too much crust and not enough filling.And the filling was what this tart was all about.It claimed to have a chocolate crust, but with a measly 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder in the crust, it was hardly chocolately.With such an uninspired crust I should have known all along not to make a little tart that was dominated by crust.

This just proves my ‘Go Big or Go Home’ theory because from what I’ve been told by those who sampled it, the results of the large tart were quite fantastic.Although I didn’t get to witness this myself, Mom tells me they were lined up for a slice of tart and there wasn’t a crumb left on the plate.You’ll have to take this with a grain of salt though as Mom has a tendency to exaggerate, and by exaggerate, I mean she makes stuff up.I often tell her I’d rather be criticized than receive false praise, but I don’t think she believes me because even when I make something I don’t like, she still tries to tell me it’s great.And then I feel like bashing my head into a wall out of frustration.I almost want to feed her something that’s purposefully bad, that’s simultaneously too salty, sour, sweet and hot all at once just to hear how she’ll try to describe what she thought of it without offending me...

Don't forget to check out all of the other Daring Bakers' posts, links can be found from the DB Blogroll and the original recipe will be posted on either Veronica's or Patricia's blogs.

Oh, peabody, ice cream made with this, GULP!Now...Brilynn, spill the beans how on earth did you get to roll this dough? When's your master class on rolling shitty dough?Love the way your mousse looks in this one! Great job!

I really need to find out why the dough rolled out easier for others! Mine was greasy one. You did a great job with the tart.Simply decadent. I agree that minis will be hard with this one because of the crust...

Excellent job with the Daring Bakers challenge. I am in denial about sweets these days and trying to cut back..so this means I will just have to drool over all the Daring Bakers triumphs....but hey, I could invite friends for dinner because then I make dessert!!!Someone slap me quick I must be hysterical.

I get that from my parents too, particularly my dad. I agree that a bigger version is better with more filling per crust, but your baby tart is very cute. How did that you make that gorgeous caramel swoosh?

A walk in the park and your tart looks cool with that free form caramel. I agree that the crust doesn't qualify as chocolate, but mine turned out OK, too. Your post is wonderfully funny as always. Go big every time...and maybe consider the ice cream idea...bet you could make a knockout milk chocolate - hazelnut - caramel ice cream.

Hehehe Mothers sometimes lie, don't they? Of course I would never do that to my children..... heheheI found the flavor changed after a day, so maybe your big tart really was amazingly good after the travel? The mini looks great!

Yes, I'd like to sign up for the dough rolling class! Interesting idea about the big tasting better because of less crust.I did like this one, even the milk chocolate. I think/hope I have my missing text present and accounted for.

It's interesting to see how each of the components come together slightly differently for each baker, despite the fact that we're approaching the same recipe with the same set of ingredients. That's what makes this fun!